Tag: Jeff Labar

Which Cinderella we were going to get at the M3 Rock Festival was anyone’s guess. Poor Tom Keifer has been through so many vocal surgeries, and has had so many issues with his voice in the past, it doesn’t seem fair. A few years ago, when Cinderella last toured, Tom’s voice was not at its best, and a lot of folks were disappointed with some of the band’s live shows. With the band back on tour in 2010, I assumed that Tom was 100 % again, but didn’t know until he took the stage.

For the fans at the M3 Rock Festival, they got to see Tom Keifer in fine form. He looked and sounded great, and overall Cinderella put on a pretty tight set that included the songs, “Shake Me”, “Nobody’s Fool”, “Night Songs”, “Bad Seamstress Blues/Fallin’ Apart At the Seams”, “Gypsy Road”, “Don’t Know What You Got (‘Til It’s Gone”, “Somebody Save Me”, “Coming Home” & “Heartbreak Station”. I am thankful that Cinderella is back in action, and sounding better than ever. In my opinion, Tom Keifer has one of the coolest, more unique voices in rock. I am very glad I got to see him sing again. My only disappointment with this show, was that Cinderella didn’t do one of my favorite songs of theirs, “Long Cold Winter”. Aside from that, I thought they were very good live.

I am hopeful that Cinderella will put out some new music in the career, although they have no current plans to record anything new. Thankfully, you will have several chances to catch them on tour this year, with the Scorpions!

I am not sure how Freakshow’s CD dropped off our review schedule at Hard Rock Hideout, but I can not overlook this CD any longer. I have been a fan of Marcus Allen Christopher’s other band Miss Crazy for quite some time. I always thought that there are some similarities between his voice, and Cinderella’s Tom Keifer. It seemed like the the perfect fit for Cinderella’s Jeff LaBar to work with Markus. Freakshow is rounded out by fretless bass wonder Tony Franklin, and former Quiet Riot skin man, Frankie Banali. The overall talent in the band is crazy good, so the CD has to be good too right? Right! After hearing this CD, I can only hope that line up would record together again, and or tour.

Admittedly, I was not super crazy about the opening tune, “Welcome To the Freakshow”, but decided to hang around to see what else Freakshow could offer. The first time I listened to the song “Everyone”, I thought that is was a major rip off of Cinderella’s “Somebody Save Me”. It isn’t exactly the same, but the main riff is pretty similar. It is still a cool song. I guess if anyone is going to rip off Cinderella, why shouldn’t it be their long time axeman. The more I listen to this song, the more I love it.

“You Who Wins” is an excellent crunchy rocker. Tony Franklin and Frankie Banali steal the show on this tune. Banali’s drumming is near perfection, and Franklin bass work complements him well. The guitar licks on “It’s Really Over” instantly brings Whitesnake to mind. This is an infectious tune that demands a lot of replays.

If you can play “Burning Me” without headbanging, you must have a neck brace on. This catchy rocker will have you singing along, “I need your love”. Another great tune! From this point forward, this album is packed with rockers all the way until the final song “Mistaken”. This is a slower number, but still a cool tune at that.

While some band projects suffer from mediocrity, Freakshow rises above the masses to deliver one rockin’ CD. This is easily the best CD that Retrospect Records has ever put out. If you are a fan of 80’s hard rock music, you will love Freakshow. You can purchase this CD at this link. Check out Freakshow on myspace here.

Jeff LaBar, guitarist for classic hard rockers Cinderella and new hard rock supergroup Freakshow, will join JT on the next edition of Hard Rock Nights, airing November 20-26. Jeff will recount the early days of Cinderella, how he joined the band and the first major tour, one of the group’s most notable videos, and the future of the band.

Jeff also talks about his role in Freakshow, the supergroup featuring vocalist Markus Allen Christopher (Miss Crazy), Tony Franklin (The Firm), and Frankie Banali (Quiet Riot/WASP). Freakshow’s debut CD was released earlier this year on Retrospect Records.

Hard Rock Nights is an internationally syndicated radio program and can be heard on a growing number of rock and metal stations, both terrestrially and on the internet. Visit http://hardrocknights.wordpress.com/affiliates for a full list of stations and times.

Frontiers Records is pleased to announce the signing of Hard Rock icons CINDERELLA for the European release on the “Live at the Mohegan Sun” album on November 6th 2009.

Featuring the all original line-up of Tom Keifer (vocals, guitar), Eric Brittingham (bass), Jeff LaBar (guitar) and Fred Coury (drums), the show was recorded during the VH1 sponsored “Rock Never Stops” package tour, which Cinderella headlined, supported by Ratt, Quiet Riot and Firehouse. The concert was held in Uncasville, Connecticut on July 21, 2005 is now officially and integrally released in Europe as an appetizer to the ultimate live return of the band on the European soil, which is planned for the year 2010!

Formed in Philadelphia in 1983 by singer/songwriter/guitarist Tom Keifer and bassist Eric Brittingham, they quickly added guitarist Jeff LaBar to the line-up. With Jody Cortez completing the band on drums, Cinderella started to write and perform original material in clubs and bars in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, until Jon Bon Jovi caught one of the performances and alerted his record company, Mercury, who immediately signed the band. Cinderella’s debut album “Night Songs”, was released in June 1986 and went on to sell over 3 million units, sporting such singles as “Shake Me“, “Nobody’s Fool” and “Somebody Save Me”. Fred Coury replaced Cortez prior to the release of “Night Songs” and the band has remained unchanged since.

Two years later Cinderella returned with their second album, “Long Cold Winter”. The record was another huge success, selling in excess of 3 million copies with tracks like ”Gypsy Road” and “Don’t Know What You Got (‘Til Its Gone)” becoming soon fan favourites.

Their third album, “Heartbreak Station”, was released in 1990 followed by “Still Climbing” in 1994. The later two albums featured songs more influenced by Keifer’s love of the blues. Cinderella disbanded in 1995 but by 1998, there was interest by promoters for Cinderella to reunite in the original lineup for a tour. Cinderella were later signed to Sony’s Portrait label by famed record executive John Kalodner, however the lack of success of the label’s initial releases brought the cancellation of the deal as the label folded.

Nevertheless, a faithful fan base supported the continued road work by the band, which reunited again in the summer of 2000 for a tour with Poison, followed by a second outing by the two groups in 2002 and regular live activity until 2006 which will be finally resumed during next year. Get ready for the return of Cinderella!

Freakshow, the new band featuring Markus Allen Christoper (Miss Crazy), Frankie Banali (Quiet RIot), Jeff Labar (Cinderella) and Tony Franklin (Blue Murder) have released a new song called “Everyone” on their myspace page.

Cinderella fans are going to love it! The guitar riff on this tune reminds me a lot of Cinderella’s song, “Somebody Save Me”

I am really pleased and amazed about all the wonderful attention that the “FREAKSHOW” project has garnered in such a short period of time and at such an early stage.

Here are some facts as I know them to be. Markus has written some fantastic songs. I flew up to San Jose last week and slammed out serious rock drum tracks which I am very proud of. As I write this, Markus is in the studio continuing to work on the material. Cinderella’s mighty Jeff La Bar will be flying in the next few weeks to add his guitar virtuosity to these great songs.

Yesterday it was announced that Tony Franklin will be laying down the bass tracks for the FREAKSHOW recordings. Markus and I had discussed the bass player situation, and since I was available to record the drums right away, we did not seek, search or cattle call for bass players, but rather decided to get the best bass player to record the best bass tracks. I recommended Tony as he is not only the best, but also my favorite bass player. Markus wholeheartedly agreed as he is all too familiar with the gifted Mr. Franklin! Having said that, there are no mutual plans for Tony to continue beyond the recordings. Sometimes a simple mention here or there seems to create an artificial life of it’s own! The last thing anyone involved in FREAKSHOW wants is to disappoint the fans due to misconceptions.

Now then….. While Tony has agreed to record the FREAKSHOW bass tracks, there has not been any discussion of any participation on his part beyond the recordings. So I think that it is important for everyone to understand that we are trying to make the FREAKSHOW recordings the best that they can possibly be and as memorable as possible for those who might listen to it.

Beyond that, the future of FREAKSHOW is up to you, the listener and the fans!